10 other US soldiers were wounded in the attack.



BAGHDAD, Dec 20 (Reuters) - A suicide bomber detonated a vest packed with explosives in Iraq's restive Diyala province on Thursday, killing 13 neighbourhood patrol volunteers and a U.S. soldier.

U.S. forces said the bomber struck an American foot patrol near a building where a city council meeting was to be held, killing one U.S. soldier and wounding 10 in Kanaan, near Baquba, capital of Diyala province north of Baghdad.

Iraqi police said the building was being used to recruit volunteers for neighbourhood patrols to fight al Qaeda militants and 13 recruits were killed.

The U.S. military said only five Iraqis died in the attack, but a Reuters photographer filmed at least eight dead bodies arriving at a morgue in Baquba. All appeared to be adult males in blood-soaked civilian clothes.

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